Solely Hers
by Allexis Writes
Summary: Emma Wayne just wants to be a normal college student, unbothered by the reputation that comes with her last name. However, when a peculiar man named Arthur Fleck shows up and lands a job in her living building after a massive Arkham breakout, she finds the man is eerily drawn to her. Everything changes when she wakes up in a bed that isn't hers with a maniac man hungry for revenge.
1. The Library

**So, I saw the Joker movie, which is so fucking amazing and phenomenal, and I got really heavy muse for this story idea. I am kind of posting this as a trial to see the type of feedback it gets. But if you like dark and twisted in the way they played with the themes in Joker, I promise you are going to love the future of this book. I 100% welcome all criticism and pointers, just please keep it out of the bullying range because cyber-bullying is illegal and also because no one deserves that kind of hatefulness. There's a difference between expressing how you don't like a piece of writing versus bullying the author over their abilities and ideas. But I really hope you guys enjoy this, because I really love this idea and I want you guys to love it too.**

**XXX**

She tapped her pen against the open notebook to the beat of the loud and upbeat song playing in her earbuds whilst she studied. Her other hand cradled her left cheek as she fought off exhaustion. Did the clock across the room really ready 2:37 AM? She'd really been there for a grand total of six and a half hours. That was now three cups of coffee and two granola bars to help keep her awake.

"Let's take all of the hard classes first semester of your freshman year, Emma, real nice thinking," the brunette muttered to herself, "it's not like you didn't anticipate finals are going to be hell."

While finals season wasn't upon the students of Gotham University just yet, that didn't mean professors weren't trying to cram in one last exam before a hell week worse than rushing for a fraternity or sorority reigned its terror over the scholars. Currently, Emma was studying vigorously for her psychology exam she had at a bright and early 8 AM. That was five hours and twenty-three minutes from now. Damn Dr. Jonathan Crane and his need to be such a hardass. As much as Emma tried to kiss up to him, he was still the biggest dickwad of her professors.

Emma abandoned tapping her pen and began to write her name in pretty cursive over and over again on a flashcard she was supposed to be comparing and contrasting cognitive and social developments on. Emma Rose Wayne littered the flashcard and she could slowly feel herself dozing off as the pen gliding over the piece of paper. As her cheek began to slip out of the grip of her hand, she bolted back up and groaned. Emma reached up to rub the sleep out of her eyes so she could get back to finishing up this flashcard set. While the end of it seemed to close, it also seemed so far away at the same time. She just needed something to keep her awake since apparently she'd built up caffeine tolerance and her 2000's Pop Hits playlist wasn't doing the job.

She'd probably have a better time staying awake if her roommate, Naomi, had joined her for the night of studying and homework doing. Alas, Naomi insisted tonight was to be spent with her boyfriend, who was a basketball player on the college team, considering his nights were consumed with practice. Emma got an earful of a dramatic explanation about how this was his one free night before she'd never see him again until after Basketball season had ended. Just some form of human contact was all she needed. Wait. She knew who'd be up right now.

Emma picked up her phone next to her she pulled the earbuds adapter out of the headphone jack and removed the buds from her ears. Her music paused itself while she typed in her phone passcode. Once in, she opened the calling app and typed in a number she'd had memorized since she was eight years old. The eighteen year old put the phone up to her ear and smiled, hoping the person on the other line would answer her. The line rang three or four time before the noise of the line picking up sounded.

"I thought I told you not to use this line unless there was an emergency," a dark and gruff voice spoke into the phone.

"How did you know I wasn't in any danger?" Emma smirked.

"I can hear you smirking, Emma," the voice spoke again.

The girl chuckled before leaning back in her chair, "I am my father's daughter. You almost done with your patrol or are you chasing a lead?"

The voice on the other end sighed tiredly, "I'm heading back in now, not much went on tonight besides trying to round up all the Arkham escapees. What are you doing up so late? It's nearly three."

"I guess I got the night owl gene," Emma snickered, "I have a Psych exam tomorrow and I was gonna literally lose it if I didn't talk to someone. Naomi's with her boyfriend and no one else would come with me to the library for this liberating all nighter. I heard about that escape on the news, did they manage to round everyone back up?"

"For the most part," the voice responded as an engine revved in the background of the call, "After I get home it'll be back to being billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne until it hits time for Batman to kick some ass again."

"Don't keep yourself up, don't want another picture of you asleep in one of those corporate meetings to go viral again on Twitter," Emma teased as she looked up to see a man standing in the library. Was he..staring at her?

"Speak for yourself, you've got an exam in a few hours," Bruce reminded the girl.

Emma narrowed her eyes as she watched the man stare in her direction, "Yeah.." her voice trailed off before she turned to see if someone was behind her that he could be staring at."

"Everything alright?" Bruce's voice came from the phone, signalling he'd noticed the change in her voice tone.

"Uh-huh," Emma answered as she looked back at the man that was 100% staring at her, "Sorry, I'm just exhausted," she quickly lied, not wanting to concern her father.

There was an amused chuckle from the other end of the line, "Sounds like you need to catch a few z's as well, why don't you head back to your dorm?"

Emma was already gathering up her stuff as Bruce spoke, "Yeah, I am, just packing my stuff up now," she responded as she tried to shove everything back in her backpack while also not taking her gaze off the staring man. This time she noticed he had long shaggy hair that hung down to about his shoulders. However, much of it seemed to be in his face and stuck to his forehead. Either he'd just gotten out of the shower, or it was matted to his face by sweat.

"I'm nearly back to the cave, I'm gonna get off the line, you sure everything's okay? You sound off," Bruce asked, genuinely something was up with Emma.

"I promise, dad, I'm fine," she assured as she slung her backpack over her shoulder while she gripped her pepper spray in her free hand, "Look, I'm about to leave the library, I'll text you when I make it back to the dorm."

"Stay safe, call me or Alfred in you need anything," Bruce insisted.

"I will," Emma spoke as she began to walk towards the doors of the library. The only thing she hated about this was that fact that her back was turned to the man that was staring at her.

"Be safe, love you, Emma," Bruce sighed.

"Night, love you," the eighteen year old responded before she pulled the phone away from her ear and glanced over her shoulder to see if the strange man had been following her. Relief washed over her when she saw the man was no longer where he was standing, but he was completely out of sight.

Maybe she was being paranoid. That was another thing that came with Wayne attached to you as your last name. You were always going to get those people that weren't your biggest fan because they didn't like what someone who came before you did. Thomas Wayne was Emma's someone. She never quite knew what happened because Bruce never liked to talk about it, and she never could bring herself to ask Alfred either. It all seemed like too much for them, and she didn't want to intrude on something they weren't comfortable speaking about. Or maybe they were scared about what Emma might come to think of Thomas Wayne. As far as she knew, he was a great man who did as much as he could to help anyone who needed it. Deep down, she knew there was so much more to her deceased grandfather and she figured she'd find out about it when the time was right. If the time ever was going to be right. Right now, her concern was making sure the creep who was watching her wasn't following her.

Emma made her way down the street towards her dorm in the chilly fall night. It was that part of the season where it was still fall, but they were just on the brink of winter. And if anyone knew anything about Gotham, it's that it was always incredibly cold that time of year. The streets were nearly empty except for the few cars that would pass by every once in awhile. Emma tried to walk as fast as her legs would take her in the cold weather, but she could feel her muscles becoming stiff from the cold. Every few seconds she would glance over her shoulder to make sure no one was behind her. Was her hand going numb from gripping the pepper spray? Did that bush next to her just rustle in an unusual way?

No, that had to be the wind. But wait. It wasn't really that windy.

Was that cracking sound someone's car exhaust or a gunshot in the distance?

There's a strange figure walking in the opposite direction on the opposite side of the street. He had something in his hands. Oh wait, it's just a pizza box from the local late night pizzeria on campus.

Emma rolled her eyes for being so paranoid with herself. She honestly was probably overreacting. Besides, her dorm was literally in sight and probably just a two or three minute long walk from where she was. The brunette released her grip on her pepper spray, and turned her head over her shoulder for another check to make sure no one was following her. This time, she felt her heart skip a beat. It was the man from the library. But how was he so close to her? He wasn't there 30 seconds ago when she'd last checked behind her.

The student sped up her pace as she neared her dorm. Just a few hundred feet and she'd be there. She glanced over her shoulder once more. He was tall, but not incredibly tall. He was wearing a pair of washed out jeans that were baggy on him.

Another glance. He wore a long sleeve shirt underneath a dark beige jacket.

One more glance. His was incredibly slender, barely any meat on his bones.

Emma was now in a light jog as she made her way back to the dorm. Her grip on her pepper spray returned and her lungs stung from breathing in the cold air whilst she jogged. Was he speeding up his pace too? She didn't even wanna look.

She ran up the entryway to the building after nearly sprinting across the street. Once she made it to the front glass door of the building, she reached for the handle and went to yank it open. To her dismay, she found the door wouldn't budge. Her breath hitched before it hit her that it was almost 3 AM. The doors to the building locked at midnight and after that you had to use your student ID to scan in and enter the building.

Emma fidgeted in her pocket for her phone, but before she pulled it out, she glanced behind her again to see this man had now only been maybe 5 yards from her. Emma let out a distressed cry as she pulled her phone out, her hands shaking as she pulled her ID out of her phone wallet. She quickly put the ID up to the scanner and waited for the light to turn green so she could enter. As soon as it turned, Emma yanked the door open and bolted inside the building. In her attempt to escape the man that was following her, she ran into someone she recognized to be an RA in the building.

"Hey, woah, what's up with you? You take speed at a party or something?" the boy asked.

"No!" Emma breathed out, trying to catch her breath from running in that cold air, "That man! At the door, he followed me from the library!" she pointed to the door.

The RA frowned and walked a few steps forward so he could look outside. He turned back to Emma looking confused.

"There's no man out there, the front of the building is empty...are you sure you aren't on something?"

"No I'm not on anything! I swear to god there was a man following me home from the library, he was literally six feet from me when I walked into the building!" she argued back, hoping he'd believe her.

"Whatever you say...just head up to your floor and get some rest, you look like hell," the boy commented before he continued to walk on to wherever he was going.

Emma frowned and glanced back outside. There was nothing. No one there. But there was also no way that she imagined that.

Completely defeated, Emma turned towards the elevators so she could go up to her floor and get some hard earned rest before that damned exam tomorrow.

Little did she know, a long haired man in ragged and worn clothing watched her from the darkness, taking in her appearance. The way she moved. Her little ticks. The way her face contorted to one of terror when she realized he was following her. Maybe that chair she was sitting in for so long still smelled like her. Maybe she left some eraser shavings behind for him to collect and store.

She was going to be a fun little toy to play with and ultimately destroy.

**XXX**

**Please Please Please Please let me know what you think! Love y'all!**


	2. Jobs

**So I have been getting overwhelmingly positive feedback from not only you as readers, but also from friends that I have had beta-read the previous chapter as well as this one. I have decided that I will keep posting it and adding to this unless that isn't what people want to see. I don't know, but I just have so many ideas for this and I'm ecstatic to share it with you guys!**

**KiraKhaleesi: Thank you so much! I'm really happy you liked it and I'm really appreciative of your feedback. I can't wait for you to read what I have in store for the future of this story!**

**IanAlphaAxel: Thanks so much!**

**XXX**

_I don't know, it's not that I've ever felt unsafe on this campus- minus the time that weird old guy walked into Matt Neely's party last month and tried to roofie a few girls- but last night just seemed so confusing. I don't know where that guy could have gone last night, I mean he was clearly following me. I'm not gonna be like one of those "boy who cried wolf" people, but I know what I saw and what I experienced, there was no way I imagined that. On to even more pressing matters, Dr. Crane's exam turned out to be easier than I had anticipated, so staying up until 3 probably didn't even matter in the long run. I hate to be this way, but I really hope they fire him. He seems like such a creep and such a tightass all at the same time. He says he's got a wife and kid at home, but no one has ever seen any pictures so none of us believe him. The kids that sit in the back have a theory that he's gay and only says that stuff to seem normal. While that is pretty funny, I don't want to jump to any sort of conclusion or get caught up in drama. Well, that's really all for now. Until next time._

_-Emma Rose_

Emma closed her journal that she'd bought at the beginning of the school year and set it on her desk following that by laying her pen on top of it. The notebook was about the size of a standard notebook, but it was also incredibly thick with all the empty pages she had yet to use and vent on. In metallic gold calligraphy cursive letters, "be happy" was engraved into the navy blue cloth cover. The journal was her way to put her inner most deepest feelings and thoughts in a place where no one would have to deal with them. She'd vent to Naomi, but she was a bit of a blabber mouth, especially when she was drunk. The journal just seemed like the most viable option.

Leaning back in her chair, Emma let out a tired sigh. She had previously debated on telling Bruce about what had happened the night before, but at the same time she didn't want to be completely dependent on him. Sure, he was a vigilante who went out on the streets at night to fight crime in order to take on helping those who needed it. Except Emma felt a sense of responsibility for herself because she was an adult and she was on her own; she couldn't run to Bruce everytime something went wrong. However, she also knew that Bruce worried about her being in such a vulnerable position. He wasn't oblivious to the hatred people had for the Waynes and he also knew how cruel people could be. In the end, he really did care for his child and wanted to make sure she was safe while at college.

"How did your exam go?" a voice snapped Emma out of her thoughts. It was Naomi, who had just gotten back to the dorm from her computer science discussion.

"Not worth staying up until 3 for if that says anything," Emma rolled her eyes as she stood to place her journal on the shelf it normally sat on when she stored it.

Naomi scoffed, "Didn't he drill you guys about how hard and important this test was gonna be? Why would he do that and then give you something watered down?"

"Because he's a dick," Emma turned back to Naomi and leaned against her desk, "How was your last night ever with Ilya?" she teased.

Naomi narrowed her eyes at Emma playfully, "It was great, we had sex three times and watched a ton of movies, he ordered pizza at some point. I just ended up staying the night and went to class from there."

"Thank you for that, Naomi, and I figured when I got back from here at 3 and you weren't in bed," Emma chuckled.

"So what else you got going on on this fine Friday?" Naomi took a seat on Emma's bed.

"My Law in America class got cancelled, so I'm free for the rest of the day and night, why? What have you got up your sleeve?"

"Well," Naomi smiled, "There's a party tonight at Delta Sig and I may have gotten us personal invitations. All the Jungle Juice and Peach Taaka your heart desires, plus more. You might even meet a cute guy."

Emma shook her head, "You know I hate Frat parties, Naomi. And the only cute guys I meet at those types of things just want to put their hands down my pants and then never talk to me again, you already know how hung up on Cody I was after everything happened and then he ghosted me."

"Em, that was just one bad guy, not all guys are like that," Naomi spoke in a soft tone, "And I don't know why you're being so shy, I thought you said you used to perform in front of thousands of people all over the world when you were eight years old."

"It's just hard to believe that and put that vibe out there while also building up walls and boundaries, I just don't want to get hurt like that again. And don't bring that up, Naomi, you know I hate talking about that"

"Sorry...but you don't have to, and you're in no obligation to rush into anything if you're not ready. But I promise this party will be fun and you can let loose after the week you've had. Please come with me? Cristian and Nate will come with us if that makes you feel any better," the blonde tried to coax her friend.

Cristian and Nate were two of Emma and Naomi's really good friends from high school. They were both sophomores and had girlfriends, but they were also willing to come along with their younger friends to the bigger scene parties to keep a watchful eye on them in case anything sketchy were to go down.

Emma pursed her lips and sighed before finally caving, "Fine, I'll go."

"Really?" Naomi perked up, "I knew you'd want to go, Emma. Nate said he'll be DD tonight and he'll be here to pick us up at 9 out front. There's not a theme, but the dress like a "slut" if you want the good booze rule still applies."

"Of course it does, it's a frat party," Emma smirked.

It was a campus wide joke that if girls dressed as skimpy as possible, they got the good stuff at the parties. They also got in for free. It's not that Emma didn't have any morals or standards, but she was a pretty girl with the wardrobe that had the capability of getting her into the best parties.

"Oh, by the way, my mom sent me a care package again, do you want to go downstairs with me to get it?"

"Yeah, let me put some shoes on," Emma replied as she got into her wardrobe to pull out a pair of shoes she could slip into.

**XXX**

Emma and Naomi waited in the small line of people also wanting to get packages from the center desk at the residence hall. Neither of them really spoke while they waited because Naomi was looking at something on her phone and Emma had her gaze fixated on the front doors of the building.

Her mind still raced with the night before. Where did that man go after he followed her? Did he hide in the darkness? The front of the building wasn't completely lit up at night, there was a chance he found a dark area and hid. She wanted to talk to Naomi about it, but she didn't want to worry her roommate. It'd probably scare the blonde because of how sketchy it seemed.

"Should I wear the black crop top or the sheer long sleeve top with a cute bralette under it?" Naomi asked as she continued to scroll through something on her phone.

Emma looked back at Naomi, "Sheer top, I was going to wear that bralette that could pass for a crop top with some black skinny jeans."

"Feeling scandalous are we?" Naomi looked up at the brunette and laughed.

"You gotta dress like a "slut" if you want the good booze," Emma reminded Naomi with a laugh in return.

Naomi laughed as well as they moved up to the counter so Naomi could hand over her student ID and get her package. Emma looked into the room where all of the RA's were when they came to work at the center desk. It was organized for the most part with a few papers laying on the ground here and there. Near the back was one of the offices for the Building Managers and Directors to be in when they supervised the RA's. The door was open and there looked to be two people in there. One of them a building director and then another person she didn't recognize because she could only see the person's legs since they were sitting in a chair. Emma watched as the director handed the person a building ID card. The mystery person stood up and what Emma saw made her blood run cold.

He was tall, incredibly skinny, had long dark brown hair to his shoulders. Ragged jeans. Worn beige jacket.

It was him. That was the man who followed her home from the library last night. She was absolutely sure of it.

He stood up from the chair and reached out to shake the Building Director's hand. He turned his head to look out into the center desk space, and immediately he caught the gaze of a familiar brunette. A smile crossed his face as he stared into her eyes with his own bright blue ones.

"Emma," Naomi nudged the girl standing next to her.

"Huh?" Emma muttered as she kept up the staring contest it seemed like she was having with the man as he began to walk out of the office.

"I have my package, come on...what are you staring at?" Naomi tried to follow Emma's gaze, but she shook her head and broke eye contact with the man before Naomi could figure it out.

"Nothing, can we please go up to the room," the brunette looked back at her friend with urgency in her eyes.

Naomi frowned, "Are you alright, Em?"

"Yes, I am, I just would really like to go back to the room now," Emma urged as she grabbed Naomi's arm and dragged her towards the elevators. Luckily one was open from people who had gotten off from the upper levels.

Emma dragged Naomi in and kept her eyes fixed on outside the elevator while she pulled her ID out so she could scan it and hit the floor they needed to be on. The light turned green and she hit the button for their floor. She then began to spam the close button, for she saw the man leave the center desk area and head towards the elevators, his eyes were still locked on hers as he approached the slowly closing doors.

He was too fast. He placed his hand in between the closing doors, making them stop and re-open. Emma sighed as the man entered.

"Going up?" he spoke in a joking tone, "Would you mind hitting floor nine for me?"

He looked at Emma, who in return gazed back at him without saying a word. All she could do was look at him with an uneasy expression.

Naomi noticed Emma not responding and sighed as well.

"Sorry about her, she's acting weird, we're actually already heading up there, we live on that floor," Naomi smiled at the man.

"Ah, thank you," The man spoke as he made his way to the opposite side of the elevator from Emma.

The brunette kept her eyes to the right of her so she could look at the wall so she wouldn't let her gaze wander towards the odd man. But she could feel his eyes staring at her as the elevator climbed its way up to the ninth floor as slow as it possibly could.

Finally, the elevator dinged and the doors began to open. Emma had never bolted out of an elevator so quick. She just had to escape that gaze of his. It felt like it was piercing into her soul.

Naomi's footsteps followed after the brunette, but by the time she had turned the corner to go down their hall, Emma had already opened their door and headed inside. The blonde sighed and jogged down the hall so she could make it to the room before Emma had a chance to close the door. When she entered, she saw Emma sitting on her bed looking very troubled.

"Close the door," Emma spoke quickly as she looked up at her roommate.

Naomi turned around and quickly shut the door before she turned back to Emma.

"Okay, you can't sit there and tell me nothing is up, Emma, you're acting really weird and I want you to tell me why," Naomi crossed her arms over her chest.

Emma stayed silent for a few seconds before sighing, "If I tell you, you have to promise not to freak out."

**XXX**

**A presto, miei amici!**


	3. Big Fun

**Heyo loves. SO before we dive in, I wanted to clarify something because I got a comment that someone was a bit confused about the timeline (which is totally okay, because honestly I'm confusing myself with the timeline too.)**

**This takes place in a very AU (obviously it's AU, don't come for me when it comes to canonicity :,) ) future Joker timeline. It does NOT take place during the sequence of events in the movie. This a continuation; a future after the movie events took place. Obviously we don't know what happens in the future of this particular universe or what plotline it relates to that has already been created or maybe even hasn't been created yet. So that's what this is.**

** It's hard to give an exact year, but it's definitely in 2010's if I have manipulated the timeline correctly. That being said, that would make Joaquin's rendition of the Joker a lot older and aged, but the way I kinda see things in the retrospect in my head, he still looks the same as he did in Joker. It's frustrating to me because that's really unrealistic in the sense of time that has passed, but I wanna stay as true to the Joker plotline as much as possible when it comes to relating it to the story while also manipulating it to fit the story I'm trying to tell. I don't know if any of that makes any sense but I tried. If any you have any other questions that might make things clearer, I highly encourage you to ask because it is never my intention to confuse my readers!**

**I also forgot to mention this because I posted this on Wattpad as well and made an intro with pictures to explain the faceclaims I chose for the characters. I also like to have faceclaims because it makes it easier for me to imagine the story happening in my head because I can put a face and voice to the characters. So here is my "cast" or faceclaims, whatever you want to call them.**

**Joaquin Phoenix: Arthur Fleck/Joker**

**Maia Mitchell: Emma Wayne**

**Jake Gyllenhaal: Bruce Wayne**

**Sophie Turner: Naomi Waters**

**XXX**

"So that's why you were being so weird when you saw him in the back office?" Naomi hugged one of Emma's throw pillows to her chest with a worried look.

"Yes, and I don't want to assume the worst about him because maybe he is a really nice guy who's just a little awkward and I'm just being judgy, but I really don't know Naomi," Emma ranted to her roommate.

Naomi reached out and put a hand on the brunette's shoulder, "Did you tell your dad? Maybe he can use his techy stuff to look up his name and see if he has a history or something."

"No," Emma quickly cut the blonde off, "I can't tell my dad, because he'll freak out and go all protective parent on me. I can handle it myself because I'm an adult."

Naomi gave Emma a look that was unsure, "Promise me that if it gets any more weirder you'll go to your dad. I care about what happens to you and I don't want something bad to happen at all."

Emma looked at Naomi's face. She was a person that worried a lot about the little things. Last time Emma checked, she was pretty sure Naomi was on at least three different medications for her anxiety. The last thing she wanted was for Naomi to be consumed with worry for her friend.

"If it makes you feel better, yes, I'll tell my dad if it gets worse," Emma assured her.

"Good," Naomi smiled, "I mean, even if he is following you and he shows up at Delta Sig party tonight, we'll have Nate and Cristian to kick his ass."

Emma cracked an amused smile, "You're right, I'm not gonna let it get to me too much. I just want to have a good time and forget about all of this happening."

"If you take as many shots as you did at that neon party at Kappa Kappa Tau, trust me, you will," Naomi joked as she got off the bed, discarding the pillow she held onto the side.

"I didn't have that much," Emma looked annoyedly at Naomi.

"Nate carried you out of the party and you crashed on his couch because you blacked out, you had that much."

A rustling sound immediately came from outside their room, making both of the girls look towards the door. It was something they'd never heard before come from outside the door.

Emma got up from the bed and neared the door. She immediately opened it and stuck her head out of the door to see if someone was walking down their hall.

"Do you see anyone?" Naomi asked.

"No," Emma shook her head, "Must have just been someone coming down the hall and they bumped into the door."

Emma came back into the room and shut the door behind her. She really just wanted to have a normal night after the past day. She needed a good old fashioned night of college partying and drinking. Since she'd moved onto campus, the girl took this as her golden opportunity to step outside of her comfort zone when it came to public events. She'd always grown up going to elaborate parties, balls, and galas with her father. Because of the Wayne name, she had to keep up an image. She didn't really have a problem doing that considering she was a calm, collected, and sweet girl in general. But she never got to experience the real party life until she got to college. She no longer had to dress in modest dresses. She could show up to a party in a crop top and shorts. No more sipping champagne from a tall glass because it was a special occasion. She could now throw back as many shots as she wanted and have as many Whiteclaws as she desired. It was never really her intention to wild out when she got to college, but the fact that she didn't have public figures breathing down her neck trying to find a flaw in everything she did anymore definitely changes a person. That freedom she had was something she was going to milk the experience out of.

"Do you wanna grab an early dinner and then we can start getting ready for tonight? Nate just texted me and said we could pregame at their house if we wanted to, he'll pick us up at seven thirty instead of nine," Naomi smiled mischievously.

Emma returned that same smile, "Sounds like a plan."

**XXX**

_...Sometimes I think about if my mom would be proud of me. Just looking back at all the stuff I've done, especially since I've gotten to college, it just makes me wonder if she was like this when she was young. Then again, as I recall it, she dropped out of medical school after her first semester and joined Alvin Ailey's, so who knows if she even hit up the party scene at all._

_God knows my dad would be so pissed at me if he found out everything I did on the weekends. It could be worse I guess considering I'm too scared to try any sort of drug...I don't even want to do them in the first place. Drinking is really it. But it doesn't help that I drink a lot when I do choose to do it. It's also not like I do it to fit in, I could give a shit what everyone else thought about me when it comes to that stuff. It's just...fun. There's something liberating about getting shitfaced. What isn't liberating is the vomiting and hangovers that follow. But the whole experience is just so fun. Now my dad would really be disappointed in me if he read what I was saying. I guess I'm just lucky I have guys like Nate and Cristian in my life to look out for me when I get very intoxicated. I still will never forgive myself for Cody. I still can't believe I let hi-_

"So, what do you think?" Naomi's voice pulled Emma out of her thoughts as she was writing.

Emma looked up from her journal at Naomi. The blonde girl wore a pair of high waisted black matte leather leggings with a burgundy colored bralette beneath a long sleeve completely sheer long sleeve top. She also wore her personal favorite pair of shoes, 4 inch stiletto heels. Her hair was curled and pulled half up while the small traces of makeup she wore was just some foundation, bronzer, a bit of eye makeup, and a deep red lipstick,

"You're gonna regret the stilettos," Emma smirked.

Naomi frowned in return, "But they look cute and they're my favorite."

"Naomi, we're not going to a club, we're going to a frat party."

The blonde sighed in defeat, "Fine, I'll change into my white sneakers. What are you wearing?"

Emma stood up and set her journal on the desk. The girl wore a black bralette top that could pass as a crop top with high waisted dark wash jeans and a pair of black ankle boots. Makeup wise, she wore about the same amount as Naomi minus the lipstick. She never liked the sensation of stuff being on her lips like lipstick. It made them dry no matter how much chapstick she'd put on before she'd apply the colored pigment.

Naomi smiled at the girl, "I swear, if you don't find a guy tonight with how good you look, I'll do it for you."

Emma gave the blonde a knowing look, "You know I'm not looking right now, Naomi."

"I'm just saying," Naomi turned around so she could change into her adidas sneakers.

While many people. Emma being one of them, come to college thinking the guys are gonna be a lot more mature and a lot more grown up considering they're adults, it is actually quite the opposite. It's like high school with the douchey jocks and lame fuckboys, except the jocks were frat boys and the fuckboys were all of them. Boys in college, at least at GU, were just there to gain a high body count and add more notches into their belts. Some of them may seem deceiving at first, but it's all a facade. Unfortunately, Emma had to learn that the hard way. Ever since her one bad experience, she'd become a lot more closed off when it came to guys. Which is why she felt better about and Nate and Cristian coming to the party with her and Naomi.

"Alright, Nate's waiting outside for us to come down, you ready?" Naomi asked as she fixed her lipstick in the mirror that hung on the back of their door.

Emma reached for her wallet and pulled her phone off the charger, "Yeah, just let me spray some perfume really quick, you know how gross it can be on those dance floors in frats."

The girl picked up one of the many body sprays she had. Emma had a bad habit of collecting the different scents for certain occasions. This one, however, was just a random one she picked up. First she sprayed it on her clothes, then on her wrists, and then lastly on her neck. Naomi was still checking to make sure she looked good in the door mirror.

"Shit, I forgot I ran out of deodorant this morning, can I use yours?" The blonde asked as she pushed her long, curled, blonde hair behind her ears so she could slip in a small pair of hoops into her first holes in her ear lobes.

"Yeah," Emma turned to put her perfume down and to grab her deodorant.

"Mens? Really?" Naomi scoffed as she grabbed it from Emma.

"What? I think it smells better," Emma laughed as she matted down the flyaway baby hairs on top of her head of medium length, straight, brunette hair.

"Whatever you say," Naomi put the deodorant back down onto Emma's desk, "Alright, come on, that's probably Nate blowing up my phone right now."

Naomi opened the door to their room and walked into the hallway, followed by Emma, who turned out the room light before she pulled the door closed behind them. Both girls made their way down the hall towards the main entryway where the elevators were. Once they made it, Naomi reached for the down button and pressed it so the elevator would stop on their floor to take them down. Both of them waited in silence as they scrolled through their phones.

From a distance, Emma could hear footsteps coming from the guys hallway and coming towards the elevator. She just assumed it was a guy that lived on her floor coming to use the elevator, pretty normal. When the footsteps entered the tiled floor of the mainway, Emma looked away from her phone screen to see which of the guys it had been. What she wasn't prepared for was to see the man from earlier standing there waiting on the elevator with her and Naomi. He luckily wasn't staring at her this time, but before Emma could look away from him, the man turned his gaze onto Emma and the two locked eyes. The brunette offered the man a polite smile in an attempt to not seem unpleasant, but she still got that creeped out feeling. She looked away again to see if the elevator was near them, and could feel his eyes watching her. Naomi hadn't even looked up from her phone to notice he was standing there with them.

The elevator dinged, and the doors opened to reveal a packed elevator with people from the five floors above them. The man began to walk forward towards the elevator, but Emma stayed put. Naomi noticed her friend wasn't moving and stopped.

"What are you doing, come on," the blonde spoke.

"It's pretty packed, we'll just wait for the next one," Emma tried.

Naomi sighed, "Nate's waiting and he's about to leave us here. I'm not about to pay for an uber, come on."

Emma sighed as well before she followed her friend onto the elevator, where she was forced to stand in front of the long-haired man. Just like the trip up the ninth floor earlier, the trip down seemed to take even longer. They'd stopped on a few floors, but had to refuse any more people because it was already at maximum capacity. And still, the entire time, Emma could feel the man behind her staring her down. What was even worse was her current lack of clothing. She just felt so violated. She even swore she heard him lean forward and sniff her a few times. He wasn't very inconspicuous about it either. He'd take nice long deep inhales. Maybe he was just breathing and she was overthinking things again.

The elevator dinged once more, and the doors opened to reveal the first floor lobby. Emma immediately walked out of the elevator and towards the front doors without even waiting for Naomi. She just had to get away from that man.

As soon as she made it outside, she walked towards the red Honda Civic that Nate drove and walked around to the passenger side of the car. The brunette opened the door and got into the car as fast as she could. A few seconds later, the door opened to the driver's side backseat and Naomi climbed in.

"Emma, what was that?" Naomi frowned.

"That guy! I just get the eeriest feeling when he's around us!" Emma turned around to look at her roommate.

"What guy?" Nate asked as he started to drive away from their residence building.

"This guy that followed Emma home from the library last night, he got a job here we're guessing and she's convinced he's stalking her or something," Naomi explained.

Nate looked over at Emma, who looked out at the window in annoyance, "Are you sure he's following you or are you sure it's not just a coincidence?"

"I really don't know, Nate," Emma sighed.

"I mean it is creepy, but I mean, I don't think it was that dramatic. Even if he wanted to do something, he wasn't going to try and kidnap you in an elevator full of people. I promise, you're going to be okay as long as people are there with you," Naomi assured her.

"I'm sorry, I just don't know why I'm being like this," Emma groaned, "I need a shot."

"Plenty of those where we're going," Nate laughed as he continued his drive.

A red Honda Civic. 2008 model if he wasn't wrong. A boy with light brown hair was driving. She sat in the passenger side while the other sat in the back on the driver's side. But he didn't care for that one.

Her hair was so silky and straight. He wan't to reach out and touch it to see if it was as soft as it looked. He'd gotten hints of her coconut scented shampoo and conditioner when he was on the elevator behind her.

He was so close. So close. SO CLOSE.

She smelled exquisite. The scent of vanilla and sugar rolled off her skin and her clothing. It was almost entrancing. Her skin was so gorgeous and undamaged. Not for long.

He wanted her to himself. To hear her struggle. To hear her scream. To hear her cry. To hear her beg. It was all the same music to his ears. The sadistic fantasies in his mind played on a repeat.

Soon. Not yet. He had to gain a trust. Once he got it, he knew he'd have the upperhand. All in good time.


	4. One Shot, Two Shot

**I actually didn't get to where I wanted to with this chapter because where I left off seemed like a lot, so enjoy this for now :)**

**XXX**

The night was still young, even though it was already almost 12:30 AM. Pregaming at Nate and Cristians house only lasted for about a half hour considering they only had less than half a bottle of Malibu left for four people to split. Each person had about two or three shots before they decided to head over to Delta Sig, one of the most notorious fraternities on Gotham University's campus. Since Naomi was dating one of the basketball players on the University team, she got all the good hookups for the parties. Which meant Emma did too.

She couldn't even remember how much she'd had to drink that night. Luckily it wasn't enough to where she was stumbling over herself and half way slurring her words. Those nights were pretty rough. As far as she was concerned, she only had maybe four shots of flavored vodka and two mixed drinks that Naomi had made for her on top of the two shots of Malibu she had at Nate's to "pregame". She would've gone back for a third mixed drink, but Nate had luckily been looking after her and instead handed her a bottle of water when she asked for something else to drink. The last half hour was spent on the dance floor with a just as drunk Naomi, a tipsy Cristian, and a sober Nate dancing to the music that the DJ was blasting. Every once in awhile a few people would come up and join them. Emma danced with a few guys for fun while Naomi sent all the ones who tried to come up to her to Emma.

This was a great way to forget about the weird man or Dr. Crane's stupid dickwad self and his exam. That's what this was all about, wasn't it? To let loose and forget.

Emma had finished the bottle of water that Nate had given her and stalked off from the group so she could grab another one. Her head was already starting to ache and she could feel her stomach churning. The brunette knew she was in for a rough night after they left Delta Sig. Emma cut through the crowd of dancing people instead of going around them on her way towards the table where they were handing out drinks. She was nearly out of the crowd when she felt a pair of hands wrap around her waist and try to pull her back into the crowd to dance. She shook the hands off her hips and continued to find her way out of the crowd, but once again hands found their way to her and were pulling her back into the crowd. The girl whipped around to face the guy with balled up fists.

"Quit it, jackass, get off of me!" she yelled over the music as she pushed him backwards away from her.

The boy, obviously very drunk from the way he stumbled, walked towards Emma again. Before she could make another move, hands came between the two to separate them.

"Hey! Woah, woah, woah!" Nate yelled over the music, "Chill out dude!" he looked at the guy before glancing over to Emma, "You too, what was that?"

"He tried to pull me into the crowd and he wouldn't leave me alone!" Emma responded with a large angry frown.

Naomi and Cristian walked up with confused looks on their faces seeing Nate separating Emma and the random guy.

"Get out of here, dude," Nate nudged the guy away and turned back to Emma, "Come one, it's about time we get out of here, it's late."

Emma didn't even argue with him. Nate gently grabbed ahold of her wrist while Chris helped to lead Naomi out of the party as well. They walked outside, and the fresh air was honestly very helpful in getting the girl's to sober up a little bit. Emma felt like her head was a bit more clear now.

Nate opened the passenger side front door for Emma to climb in and Cristian helped Naomi into the car.

"Are you two gonna be good back at the dorm or should we bring you back to our house so you can crash?" Nate asked as he climbed into the driver's seat and turned on the car.

"Yeah, we'll be fine, just take us back," Naomi groaned as she put her hand on her forehead.

"I don't know what kind of vodka that was but I do not feel okay," Emma muttered as she leaned her head against the window.

"It was probably that spiced rum you shot, that stuff was forty-nine percent alcohol content," Cristian said from the backseat as he kept an eye on Naomi to make sure she wasn't going to throw up.

Emma frowned. When did she shoot spiced rum? Oh god, there was no way she wasn't throwing up tonight when she got back to the dorm.

"Why did I shoot tequila? I don't even like tequila, who let me shoot tequila?" Naomi ranted from the back.

Nate laughed at both of the girl's recollecting their night. He figured him and Cristian were gonna have to help them get back to their floor and likely hold hair back while they threw up. But as long as they made it into their room and into their beds safely, he didn't mind it.

It was about 1 AM by the time Nate had parked the car in front of their residence hall. Both of the girls had fallen silent considering both of their heads were pounding and their stomachs were doing somersaults. Nate got out of the car and walked around to the other side to help Emma out of the car after she had taken off her seat belt. Naomi and Cristian made their way towards the front of the building with Emma and Nate behind them. Naomi used her ID to get the front door open so they could enter.

The main lobby was pretty empty except for a few other people coming back from the party scene as well. The boys led the girls towards the elevators and waited with about four other people.

Emma leaned against Nate with her head resting on his shoulder and her eyes closed. The light made her head ache even more and she felt very nauseous. Naomi was leaning against one of the columns in front of the elevators with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes closed.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. All of the people shuffled into the elevator and the buttons for each floor needed were pressed. The ride to the ninth floor was pretty short lived. Once the elevator doors opened, Emma looked forward to see none other than the man. Except this time he wore a pair of khaki pants and a building staff shirt. He was holding a mop in his hands and stared directly at Emma. Nate put an arm around her waist to help support her weight as he led her out of the elevator while Naomi and Cristian followed after them.

When they were a decent distance away from the man, Nate looked down at the brunette, "Was that him?"

Emma nodded, not bothering to speak considering she felt like she was gonna upchuck her stomach contents all over the floor if she talked.

"I could tell...he was eyeing you very weirdly," Nate looked over his shoulder to make sure the guy wasn't following them, "You sure you guys are gonna be okay here tonight?"

Emma nodded again as they approached their door. The two stood out of the way so Naomi could step forward and scan her card so they could open the door. Once it was open, the guys helped the girls inside. Nate made sure Emma made it to her bed so she could sit down. He didn't want to put her to bed yet considering she was probably on the verge of throwing up. Naomi sat on her bed as well and groaned.

"Anything you ladies need before we head out?" Cristian smirked as he looked between the two girls that were in identical states at the moment.

"No," Naomi looked up at Cristian with disdain in her eyes, "we can handle ourselves for the rest of the night, right Emma?"

Emma looked back at Naomi with death in her eyes, she really wasn't feeling well at all.

"Well on that note, we better head back to the apartment, please text or call us if you need anything," Nate spoke, looking between the girls.

"Will do," Naomi stood up from the bed so she could follow the boys out of the room.

Once they were out, Emma sighed and stood up from the bed uneasily. Naomi looked at her roommate.

"You good, Em?" the blonde frowned.

"Yeah," Emma muttered, "I'm gonna take a shower really quick, I think it'll help clear my head. I'll take my phone with me and call if I feel like I'm gonna pass out."

"If you say so, just be careful," Naomi sat down at her desk chair and began to take her hair out of the half up half down hairdo.

Emma got undressed slowly and wrapped herself in one of her fluffy white towels. She slipped on her shower shoes and grabbed her shower caddy, making sure her phone was tucked in it as well before she opened the door. Before she stepped outside the room, she stuck her head out of the room so she could check and see if the strange man was down the hallway still. Once the coast was clear, she walked out of the room and quickly made her way down the hall towards her bathroom. This was one place (hopefully) the man wouldn't be able to get her. Sure, she was in a vulnerable position being drunk and naked, but she thought maybe he'd have a bit of decency and leave her alone while she showered.

The brunette made it inside and headed for the biggest stall in the bathroom. Once she was inside, she set her shower caddy on one of the shelves, discarded her towel onto one of the hooks, and turned the water on. The stall filled with steam with how hot the water was and she adjusted it to where it was bearable.

Emma stepped into the water and let the water run through her hair and down her back. She didn't plan on washing her hair since she'd done it before her and Naomi went to the party, she just needed to wash the sweat and dried alcohol that might've been spilled or sprayed on her in the night. She quickly washed her body while trying to take deep breaths so that nauseous feeling she had would go away. There was no way in hell she was going to be that girl that threw up in the shower. She didn't want to put the job of cleaning up her vomit on the old Italian man named Nini that primarily cleaned the ninth floor. He was a sweet man who always offered to take your trash out in your room or vaccum it for you if he was passing by. That made her wonder why the long haired man was holding a mop when she walked off the elevator earlier. What was he doing on their floor? Was he hired to clean the guys' side of the hall? It just seemed like he literally hadn't left their floor since he rode up to it earlier with Emma and Naomi.

The girl rinsed the suds off her body and turned the water off. Three ibuprofen and her bed were calling her name. Emma reached for her towel and began to dry out her hair before she wrapped the towel around her body. While she adjusted the towel, she heard the bathroom door open and footsteps enter, but as she went to grab her shower caddy, the lights to the bathroom flipped off, leaving the only source of light in the small area to be the emergency light that always stayed on.

Emma frowned, "Hey, there's someone in here!" she called out before she went to undo the lock on the shower stall so she could see who turned the lights off on her. It was probably just Naomi trying to freak her out. She got no response

Before she could flip the lock, she heard heavy footsteps start to approach the shower stalls. Emma froze and stared at the door.

"Hello?" she spoke in a small tone once she heard the footsteps stop.

It was silent for a few seconds, Emma held her breath as she waited for what was going to happen next, if anything. All of a sudden, a loud bang echoed in the bathroom, making Emma stumble backwards against the tiled wall and cry out in fear. The bang had come from someone hitting the door to her shower stall.

Another bang sounded, and Emma sank to the floor as she fidgeted for her phone in her shower caddy.

"Leave me alone!" She yelled out.

The lights turned back on and softer footsteps approached the shower stalls, "Emma?"

"Naomi?" Emma looked at the door.

"I heard you screaming from down the hall and there were these loud bangs coming from in here, did you fall or something?" the blonde girl spoke in a confused tone.

"Naomi there was someone in here!" Emma spoke frantically, "They turned off the lights and they were banging on my door! They have to still be in here!"

"Emma, there's no one in here," Naomi looked around, "Please open the door, come on, you had a lot to drink tonight. We just need to go to bed.

Emma stood up from the floor and hesitated before she reached out to unlock the stall. Once it was unlocked, the stall door swung open and Emma saw only Naomi, who was changed into her night clothes.

"You're positive you didn't see anyone leave the bathroom before you came in?" Emma asked as she apprehensively stepped out of the shower.

Naomi shook her head, "No one walked in or out, I came in and turned on the lights and it was empty in here except for you."

Emma sighed annoyedly as she walked past Naomi so she could head back to the room. Naomi followed after the brunette.

Thank god no one ever went into or checked the handicapped shower stall. He stood against the wall, listening to the girls exchange frantic and confused conversation.

He knew now wasn't his time. But if he could get into the girl's head, it was only going to make things easier. He could get what he wanted more easily.

The soap scent coming from the shower was different from the one she wore in the elevator. This one was more tropical and smelled of pineapple and coconut. How...interesting, he noted.


	5. Surprise!

**Hello my lovelies! I apologize for being gone so long but you know, college. I have had the opportunity to catch up on a lot of my stuff, but sadly this is Dead Week (college speak for the week before finals). I have finals three days in a row next week and I will be vigorously studying. But I was at the library (the irony) with a few of my friends and finished up all my stuff and got bored. I forgot that I had a good majority of this chapter written and just needed to finish it. So I finished it and here I give you my late night, white cheddar popcorn and caramel latte induced update. Hope you enjoy and I hope to get more out soon.**_  
_

**Love you!**

**XXX**

_You make me feel like I'm living a teenage dream_

The sound of the music sounded loudly in the dorm room shared between Naomi and Emma. Why it was going off, Emma had no idea. It wasn't coming from her phone. She didn't even have that tone saved to her phone at all. But Naomi did.

_The way you turn me on, I can't sleep_

"Naomi," Emma groaned as she turned over in her bed so she could glance at the blonde sleeping across the room from her.

The sun was barely even out yet, that was as much as she could see through their barely open curtains. What time was it?

_Let's run away and don't ever look back. Don't ever look back._

Why was it still going? Emma was about to kill her roommate.

"Naomi!" Emma spoke even louder, annoyance in her voice.

"What?" Naomi groaned as she lifted her head from the pillow it was laying on.

_My heart stops when you look at me_

"Phone," Emma frowned in return.

Naomi frowned in return as she processed what her friend was saying, "Oh shit, sorry," the blonde quickly reached for her phone that was lying on the ground next to her bed.

Emma collapsed onto her back and looked up at the ceiling groggily, "The hell do you have an alarm set for?"

"It's not an alarm, my mom's calling me," The blonde quickly sat up from her bed and hit the answer button on her phone, "Hello?"

Whilst Naomi spoke to her mother on the phone, Emma sat up in her bed and wrapped one of her blankets around her. It was absolutely freezing in their room. It made sense considering both her and Naomi were burning up when they went to bed at about two in the morning, so they both cranked their fans on the max speed to help them fall asleep. They were both thoroughly impressed neither of them had thrown up.

The brunette leaned to one side to try and see the alarm clock that sat on her desk, it read 8:57 AM. Only seven hours of sleep? Normally her and Naomi would be asleep until almost noon unless there was a football game on Saturdays. In those cases they took a chill friday night and partied after the football games. But this weekend, the game was away, so there was no tailgating to wake up and get ready for. Emma could already tell it was going to be a rough day for the both of them.

"Yeah, mom, I'll see you later," Naomi spoke in a mildly annoyed tone before she took the phone away from her ear and hung up.

"What was that about?" Emma asked as she got out of her bed so she could get her bottle of Excedrin and her water bottle.

"Her and my dad are coming down for a surprise visit," Naomi rolled her eyes, "They're gonna be here at ten thirty. That's perfect, just what I need to cure a hangover. A day with my parents."

"Yikes," Emma spoke as she sat down in her desk chair, unscrewing the bottle of migraine meds in the process, "God my head is already pounding."

"Same," Naomi groaned as she collapsed back onto her bed, "God I need to shower. Speaking of which, what happened with you in the bathroom last night?"

Emma spilled two of the pills into her hand and reached for her water bottle that was sitting on the edge of her desk, "I told you what happened, someone walked in and turned off the lights and then they started banging on the shower stall door."

Naomi frowned, "Are you sure?"

The brunette threw the pills into her mouth and tipped her head back as she swigged the last of the water in the purple bottle before she spoke, "Yes, Naomi, I'm not delusional, I know what I saw and heard."

"Okay, okay, I believe you, Em," her roommate sat up on her bed and reached for the water bottle she set on the ground next to her bed before she went to sleep.

Emma threw the pills into her mouth and tipped her head back so she could chug at least half the water in her bottle. The night before just seemed to be a blur, however that moment in the shower was etched into her mind vividly.

"Should I turn the light on?" Naomi asked as she sat back down on her bed.

"No," Emma quickly answered, "My head is already pounding, don't need it to get worse if I plan on getting rid of it and doing homework tonight."

"Fair enough," Naomi shrugged, there was a good amount of light shining from behind the closed curtains that they were able to get around.

Emma took a seat at her desk and reached for her planner. She just needed to get a general idea of just how much stuff she needed to get done before Monday had come. Hopefully she wasn't going to be up too late. She was gonna need a decent amount of sleep after last night and recovery that day.

"Crane's making us read thirty pages before Monday," Emma sighed, "I swear to god, he does it on purpose."

"What a dickwad,' Naomi frowned whilst she laid on her bed scrolling through something on her phone, "And he just gave you guys that overhyped exam yesterday, what gives?"

"I don't know maybe his wife isn't fucking him, so he chooses to fuck his students with unrealistic expectations," Emma smirked.

Naomi laughed in return at the joke. She went to open her mouth to speak again, but her words were cut off by the sound of a knock coming at their door.

Both girls froze and looked at each other before they looked to the door.

"I thought your parents weren't supposed to be here until ten thirty," Emma whispered, not wanting whoever it was outside their door to hear her since she was so close to it.

"They aren't," Naomi frowned before she walked towards the door and reached for the doorknob.

Once she turned the knob and pulled the door to their room open, the man who Emma had dreaded seeing the most was standing outside their door. He was clad in a dark emerald green shirt that staff of the building wore with a pair of khaki work pants and a pair of old tennis shoes. He stood with a smile on his face despite the tired look in his eyes. Up close, he had bags under his his navy green colored eyes. The bags were dark and his eyes looked bloodshot as if he'd either smoked a large amount of weed or stayed up all night. His hair was just as scraggly as it had been the last time the girls had seen him.

"Hi, is there something we can help you with?" Naomi asked in a polite tone, trying to make it seem like she wasn't dying on the inside from the night before.

The man inhaled before speaking, "No, I'm sorry to bother you ladies, I just wanted to introduce myself as your new floor janitor, I've been doing it with everyone you see. Call me John."

"Oh," Naomi smiled, "Well, I'm Naomi," the blonde spoke before looking down at Emma, who was still sat in her desk chair next to the door.

Emma had her eyes fixated on the man, as if she were deeply studying him. If it hadn't been Naomi gesturing to her, the dark haired girl would've probably kept staring at him.

"Um..I'm Emma, nice to meet you," the girl smiled up at the man.

"Pleasure to meet the both of you as well," he returned the greeting.

"Uh..what happened to the other guy, Nini?" Emma raised an eyebrow, referring to an older Italia-American man that used to clean their floor.

"Random retirement," the man shrugged with a chuckle, "Guess he decided this job wasn't what he wanted anymore."

Emma nodded and looked up at Naomi with a quizzical look in her eyes.

"Well, I must get going, it was nice meeting you ladies. And don't forget, if you need something, don't hesitate to holler for me!" he chuckled again.

"Thanks again!" Naomi smiled as he turned away. The blonde shut the door and looked down at Emma, "See, he doesn't seem that bad."

"Naomi, the man's name said 'John Doe'. What are the odds there's really a guy named John Doe, did RPS not think that was sketchy in the slightest?" Emma stood up from her desk and walked back towards her bed.

Naomi sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, "I really think you're looking into this too much Em...he seemed like a decently nice man. Sure, he gave off creepy vibes at first, but so do all men his age that work in a place with tons of young adults. I really don't think you have anything to worry about."

Emma sat on her bed and leaned back onto her pillows. She was so frustrated with the entire situation after everything that had happened. First he follows her home from the library, and then he all of a sudden gets hired to clean for her floor when their old cleaning guy just so happened to conveniently decide he wanted to randomly retire. He's creepy with her before and after she went to the frat party, and then Emma swore up and down he was the one that ambushed her while she was in the shower the night before. Everything just seemed to be creepily adding up and she did not like it at all.

The two girls sat in pretty much silence for the next hour or so. Naomi played music and tried hr best to sober up before her parents would arrive to their dorm building to pick up their daughter. Emma stayed leaned against her pillows while she absentmindedly scrolled through different things on her phone. She should have been reading that thirty pages for Dr. Crane, but that didn't sound too appealing with a pounding headache. Every so often Emma would take a swig of her water bottle with room temperature water in it. She would have preferred it to be ice cold, but she was too tired to get out of bed and go to the ice machine to get ice. She also wanted to avoid running into that janitor at all costs. Maybe she was supposed to feel secure since he did introduce himself, but then again, the man's name and his entire demeanor still seemed so off. That wasn't going to stop her from being polite and as nice as she could, but Emma still wanted to avoid any sort of contact if she could.

Ten thirty had arrived fairly fast and Naomi had managed to clean herself up as best she could before her parents would be there.

"Did they say what they wanted to do?" Emma picked her head up and looked over at her roommate.

"I don't know," Naomi adjusted her cream colored sweater, which covered her black leggings in little fuzz balls, "They probably want to go to lunch and then walk down the college mall strip all while my dad bitches about my major and my mom worries over me. Same old same old."

Emma scoffed, "Will your dad ever forgive you for going into biology? He knows neuroscience pre-med isn't for everyone, right?"

"Apparently not," Naomi sat down on her bed and started to pull on a pair of brown ankle boots, "It doesn't matter anyways, I'm not changing my major."

A knock was heard from the door and Emma looked over and started to get off her bed, "Wow, right on the dot," she commented as she headed for the door.

Naomi frowned, "That's weird, my parents didn't say they were coming up."

Emma stopped for a second, thinking maybe the janitor had come back again. But at the same time it easily could have just been Naomi's parents. The brunette shook off the lingering eerie feeling and proceeded towards the door anyways. She wrapped her hand around the knob and turned, pulling the door open reluctantly. Who she saw towering over her caught her off guard.

"Dad?"

**XXX**

**Bum Bum BUMMMMMM**


	6. Sunlight

**Hello lovers! Back with another inconsistent update. Sorry it's been a hot sec, since the last time I posted I went through finals week, and then as soon as I came home for break I went to Washington, DC for Christmas and when I got back I had surgery. So a good rest of my break was spent recovering from that and also with my family. Updating wasn't really one of my biggest priorities. I use writing as an outlet to use up what free time I have in college so I don't spend time watching Netflix or napping. Free time comes every so often, please bear with me because I am on a dance team and I am adjusting to a new schedule! **

**Enjoy this little chapter I wrote up today!**

**XXX**

"Dad?" Emma frowned up at none other than her own father.

Great. That's just what she needed. Why else would Bruce show up on the one morning she wakes up with the worst hangover headache of her life and a possible stalker crisis? Why was he even there in the first place? He never showed up unannounced.

Emma noted how he was dressed too. He was in his normal business attire of a pair of Ralph Lauren dress pants and white button up shirt. His suit jacket was covered by the long coat he wore. And of course, his dress shoes were shined to perfection.

"Good morning to you too," Bruce smirked down at his daughter, "Am I allowed to come in or is Naomi still hiding the contraband alcohol you guys are harboring in here?"

Naomi walked around the corner to look at Bruce, "Not today, Mr. Wayne," she smiled at the man, "I'm actually just leaving to meet my parents downstairs."

The blonde reached for her purse that was hanging on one of the bed posts and headed for the door.

"Bye, Em, I'll text you when I'm on my way back here," the girl smiled to her roommate, while also giving her a look that read 'good luck', "Bye, Mr. Wayne."

Naomi gave Bruce a smile before she squeezed past him and headed down the hall towards the elevators.

That left Emma and her father by themselves. Emma gestured for Bruce to come into the room so she could shut the door.

"What are you doing here?" she quirked a brow as the father entered the dorm room.

Bruce took his time entering the room and scanning around to make sure there wasn't anything Emma may have forgotten to hide, "Board Trustees meeting in an hour, I thought I'd come and give you a visit."

"Next time, a phone call would be nice so I could pick up a little more," Emma scolded the man.

"By the looks of the room, I'd say you and Naomi have been up for about an hour now," the man commented as he gazed around at the half put together room.

Emma groaned, "We've actually been up since nine, thank you. And that's still pretty early for a Saturday morning. We aren't like you and Alfred who like to be up at the crack of dawn every day."

"I was up until the crack of dawn last night," Bruce turned back to look at his daughter.

Emma studied his face as he looked at her. While every hair was placed perfectly on his head and his facial hair was neatly trimmed, he still had dark circles under his eyes. That was the only sign you would ever see that indicated he went on his nightly escapades. News Outlets in the past have blamed the man's constant tired look on him being an irresponsible partyer and drinker at night. If only they really knew what went on behind the scenes of things.

"Are you still rounding up Arkham escapees?" Emma crossed her arms over her chest curiously.

The man turned around to face the window where the curtains were drawn, "Yeah, just a few."

Before Emma almost read Bruce's mind in that exact moment. But before she could even tell him no, Bruce reached forward to grab onto the curtains so he could open them and let in the sunlight. She only really registered what he was doing until she heard the curtain rings sliding against the rod and they were already halfway open. When the curtains were completely drawn, sunlight flooded the room.

"Jesus Christ!" Emma cringed as she shielded her eyes.

Sunlight may seem completely harmless to any other person, but for a severely hungover person, the sun was your worst enemy when it comes to ridding yourself of your headache.

Bruce turned back to look at his daughter after her sudden reaction. The man wasn't dumb.

"Are you hungover?" Bruce narrowed his eyes at his daughter, crossing his arms over his chest as he anticipated her answer.

Emma stared timidly back up at her father. She knew he knew the answer to the question and she also knew that there was no use in trying to lie to him about it.

"We partied last night," Emma indirectly answered the question.

"And you were drinking," Bruce added onto it, "Emma Rose, what has gotten into your head?"

The girl frowned, "You're joking right? You cannot grill me about this with the past you have, underage drinking doesn't even compare to the stuff you were doing when you were my age."

"We aren't talking about me, Emma, this is about you," Bruce retorted back, raising his voice a bit.

"I understand you have an obligation to do this because you're my dad, but I am an adult, and I choose to make adult decisions. If they come back to bite me, than that's on me. But, I have a lot more on my plate that I have to deal with besides drinking every once in awhile for fun, okay?" Emma fought back, unintentionally going off on her father in the process. She may have also just let it slip that she was dealing with the Arthur guy.

"What do you mean you have more on your plate? Like classwork? You knew the workload you were taking on when you started college, Emma."

"No, I don't mean my classwork," Emma sighed, throwing her hands down to her sides. She really didn't want to tell Bruce about the problem she was having with being potentially stalked. She was more than annoyed it was happening in the first place, but it was gonna be even worse if Bruce involved himself with it. Em wanted to handle it on her own. She wanted to prove to Bruce that she could handle herself in the real world. To prove she didn't need to lean on him 24/7.

"Then what's going on, Emma, come on. Talk to me. You're never so ominous like that, what has gotten into you?" Bruce crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at the girl.

"Nothing," Emma snapped up at the man, "Nothing is wrong, and if something were wrong, I'd handle it."

There was a silence between the two that also paired with a stare-off. Emma remained adamant on the fact that she wasn't going to ask Bruce to help her with what she was dealing with. The last thing she wanted was for Batman to get involved in something she was probably thinking too much into in the first place.

"Look I appreciate that you care about me and you want me to be okay, but I'm okay, dad," She finally spoke, trying to relieve the tension in the air between them.

Bruce sighed and dropped his hands from his chest again, "You promise me that if something was wrong, you'd tell me? Because I worry about you Emma, just like every parent does when their kid goes away for college and is on their own. I know you're only a half hour drive from the manor, but still."

"I promise I'd tell you," Emma sighed.

Bruce stared at her and then glanced at the alarm clock on Naomi's desk.

"I have to get going," he spoke before he walked forward and stood in front of his daughter.

Bruce put his hands on her shoulders and leaned down to kiss her head.

"I love you, Emma, and I care about you," he looked down at her again.

"I know dad," she spoke, wrapping her arms around the man to hug him, "I love you too."


	7. Giving Up

**Hello lovelies. I have been as clear as I tried to be on when this takes place and I can see where I made my mistakes in being unclear. I'm not trying to be shady, it's on me for not being clear on the concept I have here. So like I said, this is incredibly ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. This takes place many years after the Joker movie. Essentially with this taking place so many years in the future after the movie, Arthur Fleck would be much older. As much as I would like him to be the same age in my story as he was in the movie, time doesn't work like that. But your imagination does! I don't have an exact amount of years later nor do I have any specific year or date this story is taking place. I usually am incredibly nit picky about being chronologically correct and making sure different elements match up with the time period. Unfortunately, my idea doesn't work like that. So this could never work if you look at it in the sense that this is chronologically correct, because it isn't. I really don't know how else to explain it lol. I'm trying my best.**

**ALSO, would you guys want a story with Emma's past so you guys get an idea of where she comes from and whatnot? I posted it awhile ago, but ended up deleting it because I wasn't getting much of any feedback. It'd also include some different oneshots that I write from different universes like YJ, Nolanverse stuff, you know how we do.**

**ALSO ALSO, we get some interesting action at the end of this bad boy, so please enjoy!**

**XXX**

_...I know that I should have told my dad about the weird guy, but I still want to take care of it myself. Naomi is probably right that I am freaking out over nothing. I've always been the anxious and paranoid type. When he introduced himself earlier, he seemed like a completely normal and friendly guy. I don't want to be rude and I want to be nice to him. At the same time, I just have a weird feeling about him and about the entire situation in general. I guess I'll keep this updated to see how it plays out._

_-Emma_

The sound of a journal being forcefully shut and tossed onto a desk sounded in the dorm room. The sound snapped Naomi out of her dozing state as she slumped over her laptop trying to finish a ten page essay for her Intro to Biology class. Emma set the pen she used to write on her desk and leaned back in her desk chair. She engulfed her face in her hands and audibly groaned.

"You interrupted my nap," Naomi groaned from the opposite side of the room.

The blonde had gotten back to the dorm around two in the afternoon. She didn't say much about her time with the parents, but then again she never did. The girl didn't have the closest relationship with her parents, but she always went along with it when her parents would come and visit her to spend time with her.

While Naomi had been gone and her father left, Emma took to picking up her side of the room a bit and then immediately got back into bed. If her Excederin wasn't going to help her get rid of her hangover headache, then she was going to take to napping the rest of the day out. Unfortunately, Naomi had woken up Emma from her nap when she returned. Emma took to trying to knock out some of the reading Crane had assigned for the weekend. When that didn't seem like it was going to get done, she tried to write in her journal just a bit.

"You interrupted mine when you walked in," Emma retorted.

"Alright, that's fair," Naomi leaned back in her chair as well, "Dear God, I don't want to write this essay."

Emma picked up her head and looked back at the blonde, "At least you don't have to read an ungodly amount of what is essentially psychological gibberish."

"Let's go egg Crane's house," Naomi looked back at Emma.

Playful giggles came from both the girls after the statement, "I'm trying to get a felony my freshman year of college, but please, Naomi, be my guest."

"No thanks," Naomi responded, getting out of her chair and stretching her arms in the process. She then reached forward and shut her laptop, "Let's go get food."

Emma looked at the alarm clock on her roommate's desk, "It's only five, you literally just ate three hours ago."

Naomi shrugged, "I'm bored and I want to get out of our dorm room. It's the dining hall or the gym. You and I both know neither of us are dragging our asses to the gym post hangover."

"Dining hall it is," Emma stood up from her chair and went to grab her jacket off of the bed.

At some point in the day, it started down pouring rain. It wasn't really a sight to see when it came to living in Gotham City. There was always a constant gray cast that hung over the city. It seemed like the sun chose never to shine on Gotham City specifically. The thunderclouds that covered the city today made the entire day look like it was just before sunrise.

Naomi and Emma left their dorm room and walked down the hall to the elevator. Naomi was still slipping on her jacket when she started to speak again.

"Did you tell your dad about that janitor guy you are convinced is stalking you?"

Emma crossed her arms, "No, I didn't tell him."

"Why not?" her friend frowned.

"We've been through this," Emma rolled her eyes as the elevator dinged to signify it has arrived on their floor and opened.

"I understand you want to handle it on your own, go you, you independent woman, but you have to realize that people don't really deal with having a stalker on their own," Naomi lectured her roommate as they entered the elevator, "They go to the police and report the stalker so they can be caught you can stop having to look over your shoulder every ten minutes."

Emma leaned against the elevator wall and sighed, "I know, and like I said, I will take care of it. I never said I wasn't going to go to the authorities. I want to make sure he really is stalking me before I go running to the police. If he isn't stalking me, then it's gonna be real awkward considering he works on our floor."

Naomi wanted to argue back, but Emma did have a pretty valid point going there.

"I just don't want you to wait too long and then we find you dead in a ditch somewhere. Then they'll give me a new roommate, and you know I have a thing against being around strangers. I'll make her life a living hell on purpose. Don't make me do that to some poor innocent girl, Emma Wayne."

Emma couldn't help but laugh at Naomi. She knew she was trying to make the situation seem a little brighter than it really was.

"I'm not going to end up dead in a ditch, you psychopath," Emma laughed out loud.

"I'm just saying," Naomi smirked back at her friend, "But seriously, promise me you won't wait too long to tell someone."

"Okay, father," Emma snickered back at her roommate.

XXX

The beep of a dorm room door being opened by the valid scan of an identification card sounded quietly. A satisfying click of the electronic lock undoing itself made him smile. The man placed his hand around the doorknob and twisted it. He pushed the door open and let it hand ajar for a few seconds before he stepped into the vacant room.

Once inside, he turned and shut the door behind him. He also reached to flip the lightswitch up so the room would be illuminated with the fluorescent bulbed lights in the ceiling. Finally the two of them had decided to leave the room.

He took a deep breath the scent, her scent, filled his nose. The sweet and warm vanilla smell he had smelled on her the previous night in the elevator. It was almost intoxicating to him.

He looked around ominously at his surroundings. He took in the way she had the room arranged. He noted the way she had two pairs of shoes discarded in two separate random places in the room. He looked at her half made bed. He looked at the contents sitting on her desk.

A large textbook that read Intro to Psychology in navy blue letters sat off to the side. There was a cup filled with pencils, pens, and an array of highlighters of different colors. Another was filled with makeup brushes that had looked like they needed cleaned. There were a few other objects like a small makeup mirror, a lamp.

But one item on the desk specifically caught the man's attention. There was a journal sitting on the desk next to the textbook. It was a dark burgundy color that had 'Emma Rose' engraved on it in shiny gold letters. He reached down for the small book and examined it carefully before he pulled open the cover. I neat black ink, the words "Property of Emma Rose Wayne" were neatly scribbled onto the title line of the first page.

The man flipped through the journal to see how much she actually used of the journal. He was surprised to see that she was almost ¾ of the way through the journal and would surely be needing a new one soon. He flipped through it a second time and stopped on a random page. His eyes scanned over the writing in the same consistent black ink. Naturally, he began to read one of the passages.

"Sometimes I really think about my mother a lot. I miss her more than I probably should. I could never tell dad, though, I don't think he'd really care to hear it considering she kept so much from him and I up until she died," he read out loud.

His eyes moved down the page again.

"Sometimes I wish I could be with her. I question life itself more than an average person. It's not that I wished I was dead or like I'm suicidal. I just think about what it would be like if I weren't here anymore and I was back with her. I love my dad, I really do, but I miss her sometimes. Yet it's still a painful reminder of my past before I moved to Gotham. It feels like no matter how hard I try to move past it all, I can't get away from my old self."

Normally you'd see a girl her age journaling about her daddy issues, but it seemed she had more of mommy issues. If that was even a thing in the first place.

She liked to drink.

Sometimes she secretly wished for death.

She also had a mysterious past he was sure he could uncover if he read the whole diary front to back.

He set down the journal back on the desk, but he was going to make sure he didn't forget about it before he departed.

Upon turning his head, he saw a gray sweatshirt lying on her bed with the words Gotham University imprinted on it on dark green letters. He picked it up in a heap and brought it to his nose. The sound of a deep inhale could be heard from the man as he took in the girl's scent from her sweatshirt. It smelled of a mic of different perfumes and even a little bit of men's cologne. Perhaps that was from the men's deodorant she had sitting on one of her shelves.

He pulled the sweatshirt away from his face and tucked it under his arm as he turned back around. He began to walk towards the door until he remembered the journal on her desk. He turned back around to reach for the journal so he could take that for his own. When grabbing the journal, he noticed a copy of the girl's schedule that was thumbtacked to the corkboard built into the desk wall. He quickly snatched it. Once it was in his possession, he approached the door and slowly opened it so he could peak into the hall to make sure no one was there to see him leave the dorm room. If he was seen, he would for sure be reported. Once the coast was clear, he quickly made his way out of the room and shut the door securely behind him.

She was easily going to be one of his favorite victims.

**XXX**

**OPE**


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